- Mark Levin Signs Multi-year Deal with ABC, Expands Show to 3 Hours
- Consumerist.com Adopted by Old-School Consumers Union, Stops Selling Ads
- For Auto Industry, 2009 Holds Even Tighter Ad Budgets
- User-Generated Magazine Publisher 8020 Media Shuts Doors
- Out-of-Home, Fueled by Digital, to Weather Recession Well
- Clear Channel Swaps Cincy Stations for Five in Green Bay
- Consumers Swarm to Discounters for Grocery Items, Don’t Switch Back
- Wikimedia Raises $6.2M to Keep Wikipedia Afloat
- Conde Nast’s Jan. Ad Pages Slip More than Most
- Aegis Faces Possible Sale or Spin-off of Non-core Businesses
- Top US Cities for Charitable Givers, by Category
- Online Fitness, Video Game Spending Outperforms Brick-And-Mortar
- RIM Must Fix Glitches, Boost Satisfaction To Hold Off iPhone
- LCD TV Revenue to Fall YoY for First Time Ever
- Top 10 Broadcast Media Websites - November 2008
- Top 10 Entertainment Online Advertisers by Image-Based Impressions - November 2008
- Top 10 Sports Websites - November 2008
- Eight in 10 Online Holiday Shoppers Read Web Reviews
- Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index: Merry Outlook for Some, but Not Others
- Firefox Share Tops 20% in November
Fulfillment & Shipping
JCPenney Drops Oak Harbor Freight after Labor Violations
JCPenney has stopped using Oak Harbor Freight Lines to ship its merchandise in the western United States; the move is in response to labor rights violations, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said.
JCPenney’s decision comes on the heels of a report by the International Labor Rights Forum that Oak Harbor Freight Lines has violated international labor rights standards.
Oak Harbor is a...
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Dec. 19 Deadline for Free-by-Christmas Shipping
Most online retailers (68.1%) are imposing a deadline of Friday, Dec. 19, for ground shipping with delivery by Christmas, according to the 2008 Shop.org/Shopzilla eHoliday study of 2,040 online buyers and 60 online retailers.
More than one-third (34%) of retailers will make the expiration date on or before Tuesday, Dec. 16, writes the National Retail Federation (NRF). Some are already cutting...
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Online Consumers to Spend Less in Stores, Slightly More Online, for Holidays
Online consumers intend to spend less in stores during this holiday season than last, but slightly more online - where they expect free shipping and deals not available in stores, according to The Consumer Internet Barometer from The Conference Board and TNS.
Bargain hunting will remain the driving force behind online sales, notes the quarterly report, which surveys 10,000 households across the...
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USPS in Dire Straits, Raises Shipping Prices Early
Retailers who use USPS for shipping services will see a price hike earlier than expected next year, reports MultiChannel Merchant.
The agency is rising its prices on Jan. 18, 2009, as opposed to the usual May date - the first time ever it has changed the schedule. The move will put USPS on the same pricing schedule as its major parcel carrier competitors.
Prices on shipping services will go up...
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DHL Ditches US-Only Shipping
Germany-based Deutsche Post AG said it will discontinue all US domestic-only air and ground shipping services as of Jan. 30, 2009, Internet Retailer reports.
Exiting the US domestic business will allow the company to concentrate on the international operations of its US DHL Express unit, an area where “finances are more predictable,” the company said.
All US ground hubs will close and DHL will...
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Retail Container Traffic in Steady Decline
Major US retail container ports handled 1.33 million Twenty-Foot-Equivalent Units (TEU) in September, down nearly 10% from Sept. ‘07, according to the monthly Port Tracker report National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight.
October was estimated at at 1.36 million TEU, which would make it 2008’s peak shipping month, but would still be a 5.7% decrease in volume from Oct. ‘07. (Last year’s...
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Online Retailers ‘Resilient, Not Immune’ to Challenging Holiday Season
Though the holiday season will be challenging across the board for retailers, online merchants - though less sunny this year than last - are not all doom and gloom, according to the 2008 eHoliday Study, conducted by Shopzilla for Shop.org, the National Retail Federation‘s digital division.
More than half of online retailers (56.1%) expect their holiday sales to increase at least 15% over last...
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Amazon Curtails ‘Wrap Rage’
To cut down on ”wrap rage” - the frustration of trying to free a product from its packaging - Amazon is unrolling a Frustration-Free Packaging initiative, starting in the US with 19 bestselling products from manufacturers such as Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft, and Transcend.
One of the first products to use the streamlined packaging system is a Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship,...
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E-Commerce Affords Affluent Consumers Control, Flexibility
Wealthy online consumers value flexibility, convenience, speed the most when shopping online, writes Internet Retailer, citing a Google survey of 750 ultra-affluent and 250 millionaire consumers.
94% of those surveyed said flexibility is the most important benefit of shopping online. 93% said convenience - the ability to purchase online and have items delivered or to pick them up at a store 92%...Continue Reading »
7-Eleven Tests Centralized Beverage Delivery System
7-Eleven plans to knock down the number of beverage deliveries that an average store receives per week - from 18-20 to just one, reports Convenience Store News.
A centralized distribution system for bottled and canned beverages from manufacturers such as Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola will be tested at 300 stores in Los Angeles next year.
The goal is to reduce the number of delivery mistakes,...
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